Sunday, January 22, 2017

"America First" - old American fascist slogan becomes Trump slogan

Peter Dreier is a professor of
politics at Occidental College in California.

In this article,
he analyzes Trump’s inaugural speech and points out the language and ideas of
fascism.

An excerpt:

“From this day forward, it’s going
to be only America first, America first,” Trump said. By branding his message
“America First,” Trump was echoing and invoking a motto of the isolationist,
anti-Semitic crusade in the 1930s that wanted the United States to appease
Hitler.

Indeed, Trump’s entire speech was a
kind of Alice-in-Wonderland crazy quilt of words that meant the exactly
opposite of what was expressed. It was an angry rant, reflecting the
personality traits of an insecure bully: narcissistic, thin-skinned,
revengeful, and impulsive, lacking empathy or humility.

Fascists claim to speak for “the
people,” while pursuing policies that overwhelmingly benefit a handful of the
favored – families, cronies, corporations, and loyalists.

“Today we are not merely
transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to
another, “ Trump said, “but we are transferring power from Washington,
D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.” Later, he proclaimed: “January
20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this
nation again.”

Like other fascists, Trump claimed
to speak for the “forgotten men and women,” whose voice has been ignored, whose
job has been exported, whose neighborhood is unsafe, whose living standard has
declined.

Charles Lindbergh was one of the figureheads of the pro-Nazi AmericaFirst movement.

Fascists always attack current
politicians while claiming the mantle of “the people.”

“We will no longer accept
politicians who are all talk and no action,” Trump said, using the same
words he used several days earlier to defame Cong. John Lewis, a civil rights
icon who, unlike Trump, put his body on the line countless times to make
America a more humane and inclusive society.

Fascists seek to unite the country
behind a smokescreen of patriotism while scapegoating the weak and powerless.

“We are one nation, and their pain
is our pain,” Trump said. “We share one heart, one home and one glorious
destiny.”

But his speech was a series of
deflections away from the core problem facing the United States: the growing
power of a tiny wealthy elite – sometimes called the “1%” but in reality the
.001% — over our economy and politics.

Trump has populated his Cabinet and
top advisors with some of America’s wealthiest and greediest people, corporate
robber barons, militarist zealots, Wall Street titans, right-wing conspiracy
theorists, anti-Semites, and racists, some of them (like Trump) born wealth but
who have demonstrated no inclination for public service or even noblesse
oblige.

To deflect attention away from the
super-rich, Trump – like fascists throughout history – points his fingers at
and scapegoats others. In today’s speech, he avoided explicit reference to
Mexican immigrants, Muslims, China, Hollywood, the media, unions, and Jews –
groups he castigated throughout the campaign. But his address included many dog
whistles that his core supporters understand.

“We’ve defended other nations’
borders while refusing to defend our own,” was Trump’s dog whistle to America’s
white supremacist “alt right” movement, who want to deport undocumented
immigrants while eliminating the social safety net from those who live here and
contribute to our society.

Trump personifies the worst aspects
of corrupt crony capitalism. He inherited his father’s real estate empire, made
possible by federal government housing subsidies. He has curried favor with
Democratic and Republican politicians at the local, state and national level by
contributing millions of dollars in campaign donations. He has abused the
nation’s bankruptcy and tax laws to avoid his responsibility to his lenders,
employees, business partners, and the country as a whole.

In his address, Trump pledged that
“We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and hire American.”But Trump
has used undocumented immigrants to construct his glitzy apartment buildings
and hotels.Most of the ties, suits, shirts, and other clothing items sold as
part of the Donald J. Trump Collection are made in overseas sweatshops. Even
the “Make America Great” caps worn by Trump supporters at the inauguration
event, were made in China!

Like fascists everywhere, Trump’s
speech included a list of troubles he intends to fix, without pointing out that
they were caused by the policies, people, and principles he embraces.

Thought for the day

Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!

Individual One’s tweet at 4:52 AM - 17 Feb 2019 after a long, hard day of playing golf at Mar-A-Lago on Day Two of our “national emergency.”

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